Yesterday, lovely spring day, I head out into my garden to see the signs of life. And lo and behold - there are peanut shells everywhere. In the flower beds, throughout the grass, scattered across our patio.

What the ....? My first thought was the neighbour a few doors down who used to like to feed peanuts to the squirrels. But after I'd mention allergy / shells spreading our way, that stopped. Besides, we'd never seen this many shells.

My husband happens to see the new next door neighbour, so inquires. Oops, she says red-faced when reminded of my allergy. Apparently her little girl (coming up on 2) thinks feeding peanuts to the squirrels is a great game. Her mom agrees they will desist or find something else to feed.

Fortunately, there was a good, hard rain last night. But we're still seeing more shells today. Those squirrels, after all, do "squirrel" away.

Between that and the raccoons that are already turning over our newish sod from last summer, we're not off to a hot start this spring.

How frightening!! A friend was mentioning that she found peanut shells in one of her planters, her teenage daughter is PA and she was worried that maybe it was some sort of 'prank' by someone she knows. I told her it could be an animal, I'll tell her what happened to you and maybe she could talk with her neighbours.

Gwen, that is awful. Thankfully you noticed the shells before you did some gardening and inadvertently touched your face. I hope your neighbor will act 'neighborly' and find a new creative way for her daughter to feed the animals.
Our old neighbor (before we had our son) used to put a 5lb tub of peanut butter out in her backyard every summer...no joke!!!! We used to look on bewildered every year as the huge tub of pb sat in the middle of her backyard. We often wondering if she really thought squirrels were going to come and dip in a paw. Sometimes it is very difficult to follow other people's thought process.
Good luck.

We have the same issue at our place, peanut shells everywhere. We have mulch all around the playset and every spring I have to dig through it all to get all the shells. And to make matters worse, I'm pretty sure every squirrel in the neighbourhood has taken up residence in our little shed because DH found a huge pile of shells in there all mixed up with Kaden's backyard toys. Sigh, just one more thing to clean during spring clean up.

I've got a keep an eye on this because our big dog likes to go roll in the grass in the spring. And, of course, I'm always patting the loveable dog.

I'm sure through feeding, my neighbour has been attracting more squirrels than our normal tulip-destroying share. I think the city (I'm in Toronto) discourages people from feeding all wildlife - since we're over-run with squirrels and raccoons. I could try mentioning that (my neighbour is very nice), but if this is her little daughter's new joy, I may be farther ahead suggesting something else to feed the darn rodents.

Anybody know what else they'll eat? I was thinking sunflower seeds but, as my DH says, that could become really messy.

For alternative food suggestions, I have seen squirrels eat pizza so I don't think they're too picky but for healthier eating, read on:
Squirrels are members of the rodent family. The eastern gray squirrel is the most common tree squirrel. It is usually gray or brownish-gray with a white or lighter grey belly, or completely black. The red squirrel, also a tree squirrel, is smaller and has reddish brown fur with white underparts. Both are active during daylight hours and are primarily herbivores, feeding on roots, stems, bark, shoots, leaves, fruits, nuts, seeds, fungi, flower bulbs, and occasionally insects. Because they have rootless teeth that keep growing, they must gnaw continuously to wear them down. Otherwise they would be unable to close their mouths, and their teeth would continue to grow and eventually prevent them from feeding. (source: http://cfhs.ca/wild/squirrels/ )

Keeping the economy in mind, maybe they aren't a fun hobby. Maybe she's raising them for food! I once saw Chef Ramsey serve squirrel, but I can't find a link. I did find this link for Woody Bob's Classic Squirrel Recipes though. http://www.woodybobs.com/

Your best method for discouraging the squirrels from leaving the shells in your backyard is to allow your dog to go out more.

My neighbor wanted to mix up a similar sounding 'potion' for our rabbit problem (entire perennials disappearingover night!!) . When I heard she wanted to spray cayenne pepper and tobasco on everything I had to plead with her not to!!! Stew is starting so sound good though.

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